


Say it out loud

by RENielsen



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Enjoy!, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Nouis, just a lot of Fluff really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 20:11:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7546195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RENielsen/pseuds/RENielsen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em> The purposeless stokes become something else, and he slowly begins spelling out words on the sleeping boy’s back. It starts of as sweet nothings, but at some point his fingers begin spelling out the words ‘I love you’ over and over again. </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say it out loud

A soft knock on the door takes Louis out of his slumber. He was _so_ damn close to be falling completely asleep, but of course. It’ll be a day of wonder when no one comes and disturbs him at night. It’s usually Harry who barge through the door when he either has found something interesting on twitter or for some reason wants to begin watching movies at three am. Liam does it a lot too, but he’s usually the one who knocks first and apologizes when he realises that Louis was actually trying to sleep. It doesn’t stop him from still coming in every time though, so Louis doesn’t even know if he thinks it’s better.

He wants to be angry at them for doing it, but when he thinks about it, he’s probably just as bad as the two of them together, so he doesn’t have the right to be angry, not really.

A grumble leaves him as he almost falls out of bed and drags himself to the door. He’s already scolding the person on the other side of the door before he has even opened it properly. As soon as he sees Niall’s pale skin and red rimmed eyes, the words dies down in his throat.  He wasn’t expecting Niall, because as one of the only ones, Niall actually sends a text as a warning before he comes on night visits, but if anything he definitely wasn’t expecting a _crying_ Niall.

“Are you okay?” he asks worried, as he immediately tugs Niall inside and into a hug.

Niall is... well to say it as it is, Niall’s his soft spot, if you may. He can never be angry with Niall, because for some reason everything he does makes Louis’ heart beat a little faster. He remembers when he was nine and he asked his mum about love. She had told him that love was something you could feel in so many different ways. It could be the love for your friend, your siblings and your parents, but that sometimes it also could be love for someone you maybe didn’t really expect to end up loving. Love makes you happy, she had told him, and as he grew older he realised just how right she was.

If anything he got nothing but love for his band mates, people he also considers as close family, but ever since the beginning, he has also known that his love for Niall in some way seemed to be different. He adores the younger boy in a way he can’t even describe to himself.

“I just... I just can’t sleep. Can I sleep in here?” he asks, voice sounding hoarse. It makes Louis’ heart break into pieces.

“Of course, love,” Louis mutters without even giving it a second thought.

He pulls Niall further into the room, and let go of him for a second, which he regrets immediately, because Niall just looks so lost and so sad as he stands there. He’s never seemed smaller, and Louis does not like it even one bit.

As he steps closer once again, he lets his hands find Niall’s cheeks and silently asks what’s wrong, knowing he won’t have to say a word for Niall to understand what he means.

Niall shakes his head, not as if he’s saying ‘no’ but more like he’s saying ‘later’.  Louis has to bite his lip not to push him to talk, and just nods in acceptance instead. Later, he can do later. If Niall doesn’t want to talk right now, then he won’t force him to do so. He’ll be patient and wait until he’s ready. He can do that!

“Alright,” he whispers. “We’ll sleep now and talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Niall says, but he doesn’t look Louis in the eyes when he does so.

Louis chooses to let it go and instead carefully leads Niall over to the bed, not once letting go as they get comfortable cuddling close together. Niall isn’t a little spoon kinda guy, Louis can’t even begin to remember how many times he has said exactly that, but in that moment he seems to want nothing but to have Louis’ arms around him, and really, how should Louis in any way deny him that?

He’s not entirely sure, but they lie there in silence for ten minutes max, before Niall grumbles and mutters something that sounds like, “Can’t bloody sleep like this. Stupid position that’s what it is.” He pushes to Louis until he’s lying flat on his back and then he turns around totally, so his head is resting on Louis’ chest and his arms are folded around him.

“Pushy,” Louis laughs softly, but doesn’t really mind. All he gets in return his a light huff from Niall.

Without really thinking he begins carefully stroking Niall’s back, and it doesn’t take long before his breathing becomes so even that he can’t be anything but deeply asleep. The purposeless stokes become something else, and he slowly begins spelling out words on the sleeping boy’s back. It starts of as sweet nothings, but at some point his fingers begin spelling out the words ‘I love you’ over and over again.

It feels so right, which is funny because they say those exact same words to each other all the time. Louis knows for a fact that he has said it once to Liam, three times to Harry and probably around six times to Niall just today. This feels different though. It feels like it means something else entirely.

His hand stops moving and just for a second he feels like he can’t breathe, when Niall moves around a little as he snuggles closer into Louis’ arms.

“Love you too, Lou,” he murmurs, voice heavy of sleep.

He doesn’t say anything more, and honestly seems like he’s sleeping tightly, but Louis’ heart still begins beating twice as fast. He can’t figure out whether Niall was simply dreaming and talking in his sleep or if the boy woke up long enough to sense what Louis was doing and then simply responding to it.

Not that it actually matters anything. No matter what then Niall just said the words exactly like he does every time Louis expresses his fondness. It doesn’t _mean_ anything more than that. Why should it? To Niall he’s exactly what he has always been; a friend and a brother. 

Every thought of sleep is totally forgotten from that moment, and all he can get himself to do is worry about what just happened. He doesn’t even notice when the sun come up and the room becomes light and warm. It isn’t until Niall once again begin moving around that he really realises how much time must have passed by.

“You don’t look like you’ve slept much. Did I snore?” Niall asks bleary-eyed, looking at Louis with a frown on his face.

“No of course not. I... I was just worried about you,” he lies, or well it isn’t entirely a lie, but he can’t really say it’s the whole truth either. “What happened last night?”

Niall’s cheeks immediately becomes a lovely pink colour Louis only gets a glimpse of before he hides his head in Louis’ t-shirt. “Nothing. Don’t make me say it, please. It’s embarrassing.”

“Did you wet the bed?” Louis asks slyly, very well knowing that was not what happened, but more to make him laugh. It works as intended as Niall snorts out an embarrassed grin, before he shakes his head.

“No... I just had a bad dream, okay? It’s stupid, and I’m not gonna tell you about it! I’m okay again, so it doesn’t matter,” he says, looking stubborn as he does so.

“Not even if I ask you nicely?”

“No.”

“You’re so boring, Neil,” he mocks, but the smile on his face tells another story.

“Maybe I am. We could talk about something else, though.”

“And what would that be?”

“I feel like this maybe was a dream too, so if it didn’t happen you have to promise me to forget all about it again, okay?” Niall says. He all of a sudden looks so nervous, which of course gives Louis clammy hands. If this goes anywhere else but where he fears it’ll go right now, then he would never have been as surprised before in his life.

He bites his lips as he cautiously nods. Here goes nothing, he guesses.

Niall slowly sits up, and after a second Louis follows his move, so he’s sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed and so he’s easily facing Niall. After taking a deep breath Niall says, “Did you draw on my back last night?”

“Might have,” Louis mutters in return. When Niall lifts his fingers to his mouth and begin biting his nails, Louis wants nothing but to tell him no, because it’s really a bad and not very healthy habit to have, but he doesn’t because he kinda wants to do the same.

“What’d you write?”

For a moment, nothing more than a second, Louis considers to lie. He knows that no matter what he says now then Niall will take his answer as the truth, even though he maybe deep down would know that it wasn’t, for the simple reason that Niall’s too sweet to pressure him into saying something he might would end up regretting two seconds later. He doesn’t want to regret it though. He wants to tell Niall the truth, and he wants him to understand the exact meaning of the words.

Most of all he’d like to know what exactly he means himself, but his guts tell him that if he just says the words, then sooner or later he’ll figure it out.

“I wrote ‘I love you’,” he then says quietly. He keeps eye contact with Niall the whole time and sees how his eyes become big in surprise, like he didn’t actually think Louis would tell him the truth, before a little smile settles on his lips.

“And you didn’t mean...”

“No. I mean exactly what I said. I love you. Not as a friend, not as a band mate and not even as a brother. Or well I love you like all of those things, but most of all I just love you.”

“I quite like the sound of that,” Niall says, a faint blush covering his cheeks.

Carefully Louis leans in a little, his fingers finding their way to Niall’s warm cheeks. He doesn’t kiss him, isn’t really sure any of them is actually ready for that, and instead he just lets his forehead rest on Niall’s.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://nialliesmiley.tumblr.com/) :)


End file.
